The oligarch's efforts to establish peace fail, even if it protects him from sanctions.
When hundreds of Ukrainians were threatened with destruction at the besieged Azovstal plant, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in April, he said he “managed to achieve a possible breakthrough.” The billionaire told Ukrainian officials that he met with dictator Vladimir Putin in mid-April and “reached an understanding” that will allow wounded soldiers and civilians to leave the besieged territory of Mariupol, the newspaper writes The Washington Post with reference to sources.
But when Ukrainian officials asked for details on how to proceed, Moscow remained silent. Russia continued to bomb Azovstal without stopping until the UN and the Red Cross made a separate commitment from Putin to allow the evacuation of some civilians this week, newspaper sources said. Abramovich did not participate in these discussions, they added, emphasizing that the oligarch did not offer any explanations for the failure of the alleged agreement.
The Russian Post, which has amassed wealth on Russian oil and owns the English football club Chelsea, has been a mediator between the Kremlin and Bankova for three months now, according to The Washington Post.
According to US officials and experts, this agreement still works better for Abramovich than for the people of Ukraine. Peace talks have reached a stalemate amid ongoing attacks and growing evidence of Russian atrocities. Abramovich's participation in the talks protected him from the barrage of sanctions that the United States imposed on Russia's elite, sources say.
“This is a kind of useful invention for Abramovich to save his life,” said Gavin Wilde, who until 2019 was Russia's director of the National Security Council. “To the extent that his negotiating efforts have avoided US sanctions, I would say that they were certainly more beneficial to him – and perhaps even to Moscow – than to Ukraine “./span>
Ukrainian officials have described their interaction with him in more balanced terms, saying they are cautious and do not trust the oligarch with such ties to the Kremlin, while acknowledging that he is the only interlocutor who appears to have a direct relationship with Putin.
“At this stage, this is the only channel that practically works,” said one official.
Pretending to be a diplomat working on the “black channels”, Abramovich went further than other Russian oligarchs in using political ties and seeking services to protect the financial empire, which suffered significant damage as a result of the war. It is an adventure that ultimately risks failure by revealing his ties to Putin. Abramovich had previously strongly denied these ties.
Abramovich enlisted the support of including President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky , who, according to US officials and others familiar with the matter, has pressured President Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to refrain from imposing sanctions on Abramovich as long as he is a channel of communication with Putin./span>
Biden agreed to grant Abramovich a reprieve after Zelensky's request, which seemed almost unintentional, sources said.
One of Abramovich's aides said Zelensky had also asked Johnson to refrain from imposing sanctions on the oligarch, but Abramovich's reputation in Britain and political pressure on Johnson had made the move impossible. In March, British sanctions were imposed on Britain .
to intensify the assault on Azovstal – General Staff Russian troops have stepped up aviation, and not only military but also civilian targets have been attacked in the south. In Luhansk region, Russians dropped an air bomb on a school of about 90 people So far, only a third of the villagers hiding in the school's basement have been rescued. At least two dead President Volodymyr Zelensky and the brave people of Ukraine today embody the spirit of those who won World War II – Blinken Putin tries to distort history to try to justify his unprovoked and a brutal war against Ukraine. “Time is running out, and time is our lives!” Defenders of Mariupol await rescue The commander of the 36th OBRMP said that the military at Azovstal found themselves in a hellish reality show watched by the whole world.
